Employers Wary Of Private Exchanges

The public health insurance exchange put in place by the Affordable Care Act has not transformed the U.S. health care system in the way that some hoped or feared.

Few employers have not used the existence of the individual exchange as an excuse to scrap their health care plans.

However, many hope that the concept of health care exchanges, in both the public and private sectors, will become a mainstay of the U.S. health care system, forcing consumers to take more responsibility for their coverage.

But a new study suggests very few employers appear interested in implementingprivate health insurance exchange for their employees. Only 6 percent of large employers have such a system in place or say they will implement one this year, a recent survey by New York City-based consulting company Mercer found.

One notable exception is Starbucks, which recently announced that it would be putting in place an exchange with a variety of different health care plans that its 160,000 workers could choose from.

Where does the hesitation to use exchanges come from? Arecent survey of leaders from Fortune 1000 companies byPacific Resources, a Chicago-based benefits consulting firm, provides some insight.

The top reason employers are reluctant to embrace exchanges is that the cost benefit simply hasn’t been proven to them yet. Nearly 65 percent of respondents cited a lack of evidence regarding savings as reason to refrain from an exchange.

The second biggest reasons, cited by just over half of respondents, was the potential disruption to employees’ benefits caused by introducing a new system.

There is nevertheless clearly potential for the market to grow, even if it will clearly take some time. Only 42 percent of employers surveyed said they had no plans to consider adopting an exchange platform, in addition to 29 percent that indicated they had already looked into exchange options and decided not to pursue them.

That means that over a quarter to a third of large employers are open to switching. As the market of private exchanges matures, and strong evidence emerges that they can help employees and employers reduce costs, there will naturally be greater interest.

Summary: The public health insurance exchange put in place by the Affordable Care Act has not transformed the U.S. health care system in the way that some hoped or feared.

Few employers have not used the existence of the individual exchange as an excuse to scrap their health care plans.

However, many hope that the concept of health care exchanges, in both the public and private sectors, will become a mainstay of the U.S. health care system, forcing consumers to take more responsibility for their coverage.

But a new study suggests very few employers appear interested in implementingprivate health insurance exchange for their employees. Only 6 percent of large employers have such a system in place or say they will implement one this year, a recent survey by New York City-based consulting company Mercer found.

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